Following tries from Lee Barron, Max Deegan, Ciaran Frawley, Tommy O’Brien and James Culhane, Leinster developed a 33-13 lead by the hour mark in Ballsbridge.

Yet their display – much like in the bonus point triumph over The Sharks seven days earlier in the same venue – had been far from perfect up to this point and with Connor Boyle and Boan Venter crossing the whitewash to supplement an earlier try from James Lang, Edinburgh reduced the gap to nine points late on.

Given the eastern province are still to welcome their Ireland contingent back to the fold (whereas Edinburgh were able to call upon 11 of Scotland’s World Cup squad), Cullen isn’t surprised that the hosts were somewhat uneven at the weekend.

“I thought it was a bit patchy really. A lot of good intent and endeavour and all that, which is good, but we’ve still a long way to go. In terms of the set-piece battle specifically, they’ve a pretty experienced pack that’s out there,” Cullen remarked after the game.

“From our point of view, there is definitely lots in our control that we can be a hell of a lot better at. That’s the learning with the group that we have.”

Making a third appearance for his new side after returning from the World Cup with Scotland in recent weeks, former Munster and Ireland U20s fly-half Ben Healy opened the scoring for Edinburgh with an 18th minute penalty. The Tipperary native also split the uprights towards the end of the opening period, but this score arrived in the midst of a dominant spell by Leinster that yielded converted tries from Barron, Deegan and Frawley.

The sin-binning of Edinburgh lock Glen Young left Leinster with a numerical advantage at the end of the first half, but even when the visitors were restored to their full compliment, O’Brien sprinted over on the right-wing for the home team’s bonus try on 53 minutes.

Lang and Culhane subsequently traded five-pointers as the third-quarter progressed – the latter breaking his duck in professional club rugby – but it was Edinburgh who provided the more potent threat in the closing moments.

The damage had effectively been done by this juncture, but tries from Lang’s fellow replacements Boyle and Venter either side of a Sam Prendergast penalty offered the visitors plenty of solace.

Next up for Leinster is a trip to Dragons this coming Sunday and while he won’t have a full hand to pick from, Cullen revealed that some of Ireland’s World Cup squad will be making their seasonal returns at Rodney Parade.

“Some of that Irish crew came back and trained last week. They had two weeks off and I suppose they’re into their third week and they’re scratching themselves thinking ‘what do I do!?’ “Some of those guys will then play next week and some will just get through a bit of training. Again, it’s case-by-case to see what they’re like,” Cullen added.

Scorers for Leinster: Tries – L Barron, M Deegan, C Frawley, T O’Brien, J Culhane. Pens – S Prendergast. Cons – H Byrne (4).

Scorers for Edinburgh: Tries – J Lang, C Boyle, B Venter. Pens – B Healy (2). Cons – B Healy (3).

LEINSTER: C Frawley; T O’Brien, J Osborne, C Ngatai, J Larmour; H Byrne, C Foley; J Boyle, L Barron, M Ala’alatoa; R Molony, J Jenkins; M Deegan, S Penny, J Culhane.

Replacements: R Ruddock for Deegan, B Murphy for Foley, S Prendergast for Byrne, R Russell for Ngatai (all 55), P McCarthy for Boyle, R McGuire for Ala’alatoa (both 62), B Deeny for Jenkins (62), D Donnellan for Barron (67).

EDINBURGH: B Kinghorn; W Goosen, M Bennett, M Currie, D van der Merwe; B Healy, C Shiel; P Shoeman, D Cherry, WP Nel; G Young, G Gilchrist; T Dodd, H Watson, L Crosbie.

Replacements: M Sykes for Watson, C Boyle for Crosbie (both h-t), J Lang for Bennett (53), E Ashman for Cherry, B Venter for Shoeman, J Sebastian for Nel (all 55), C Dean for Currie (72).

Referee: M van der Westhuizen (SARU).